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No one seems to have mentioned the really interesting aspect here: Twitter must be bleeding DAUs. There are other indicators too. After the takeover they dro

No one seems to have mentioned the really interesting aspect here: Twitter must be bleeding DAUs. There are other indicators too. After the takeover they dropped the login wall, but it is back, and way more aggressive than before. You can't even scroll down to see more tweets now, or view replies. The ads are also really weird and odd. Either their ad targeting system is broken, or they just lost so many advertisers that they have nothing good to show. I bet the initial influx of previously turned away users is over, as well as the returning users just there for the show, and now the effects are compounding.

timdaub 4y ago
this isn‘t totally true. Today I also noticed that we login wall takes more screen space - but you can click it away and it didn‘t return for me anymore on iOS
dm319 4y ago
Wasn't there something about Elon trying to sell Twitter stock privately? I think in the financial times. They have probably lost a lot of advertisers, and Elon might be in financial trouble.
- rinze 4y ago
  It was in several places, Bloomberg among them: https://archive.ph/0P9i7 https://archive.ph/0P9i7 The entire thing is a joke.
- meepmorp 4y ago
  Not just sell stock, but sell it at the meme-o-rific $54.20 price he paid. Just unbelievable.
cesarb 4y ago
> After the takeover they dropped the login wall, but it is back, and way more aggressive than before. At least in one small aspect it's better now: the X in the corner is back, so you can dismiss it. Shortly before the takeover, the X in the login wall was hidden unless you somehow found out the trick (you had to click as if you were going to login with an username and password, and that second form had the X in the corner to dismiss it).
- midasz 4y ago
  > second form had the X in the corner to dismiss it Woah, I've never gotten that far. Tried to avoid all twitter links but if I did need to view one I'd just use nitter.
tick_tock_tick 4y ago
> Twitter must be bleeding DAUs Secondary indicators seems to indicate DAU is surging. I don't know why you'd think it would drop from controversy this kind of shit is what people live on twitter for. Real question is is it sustainable and can they actually monetize it. > The ads are also really weird and odd. Twitter has always been an embarrassment in terms of targeted ads.
- 542458 4y ago
  What secondary indicators are you referring to? And yeah Twitter ad targeting has always been confusing to me. Some people here are saying it’s because they fired that team, but it’s been weird for years. The automatically determined interests listed in the settings were 85% completely irrelevant to me. At various points I’ve been given ads for restaurants on a different continent, HIV medication (I’m not HIV positive), and nuclear engineering consultants (not my industry at all).
- ncallaway 4y ago
  > Secondary indicators seems to indicate DAU is surging Which ones?
- tremon 4y ago
  Secondary indicators like the number of times Twitter is mentioned on HN, or in the news in general?
- rminami 4y ago
  > Twitter has always been an embarrassment in terms of targeted ads. I now seem to be getting lots of ads from Saudi Aramco, and I have no clue what part of my Twitter activity would indicate interest in them. Running out of ad inventory seems like the most plausible explanation.
querulous 4y ago
their entire ad backend is in a state of crisis. i have friends who were on the monetization (read: ads) teams at twitter and every single one of them has been asked/ordered to return to work if they want to collect their severance
- dekhn 4y ago
  I would like to hear more about this. I haven't seen any reputable news about employees who were severed and then asked to come back.
- rightbyte 4y ago
  Severance claw back? For real?
- dmak 4y ago
  Whoa, is this possible? is this even legal?
  - meepmorp 4y ago
    By the time they get it in front of a judge, Twitter probably won't exist anymore.
  - qqtt 4y ago
    When you hear about layoffs these days, you will usually see terms like "2 months of salary" as part of the severance package. What this actually is, is paying the employee throughout the entire "notice" period of the WARN Act. The WARN Act says that any company doing layoffs must give 60 days notice to employees, so to comply companies layoff employees but keep them on payroll for 2 months to meet the obligations of the law. Technically, if the employee is still on payroll, the company is within it's rights to ask them to continue working, and violating company policy during this time (ie, not even showing up for work) could be grounds for regular termination which would not require any severance payments at all.
    - AlexandrB 4y ago
joegahona 4y ago
> Twitter must be bleeding DAUs My thoughts exactly, he was in some random meeting last week and learned that traffic is falling and this is his dopey “solution.”
hackernewds 4y ago
Wait for the code freezes everywhere to be over. Can't imagine any new features at Twitter reasonably launched

timdaub 4y ago

this isn‘t totally true. Today I also noticed that we login wall takes more screen space - but you can click it away and it didn‘t return for me anymore on iOS

dm319 4y ago

Wasn't there something about Elon trying to sell Twitter stock privately? I think in the financial times. They have probably lost a lot of advertisers, and Elon might be in financial trouble.

rinze 4y ago
It was in several places, Bloomberg among them: https://archive.ph/0P9i7 https://archive.ph/0P9i7 The entire thing is a joke.
meepmorp 4y ago
Not just sell stock, but sell it at the meme-o-rific $54.20 price he paid. Just unbelievable.

cesarb 4y ago

> After the takeover they dropped the login wall, but it is back, and way more aggressive than before. At least in one small aspect it's better now: the X in the corner is back, so you can dismiss it. Shortly before the takeover, the X in the login wall was hidden unless you somehow found out the trick (you had to click as if you were going to login with an username and password, and that second form had the X in the corner to dismiss it).

midasz 4y ago
> second form had the X in the corner to dismiss it Woah, I've never gotten that far. Tried to avoid all twitter links but if I did need to view one I'd just use nitter.

tick_tock_tick 4y ago

> Twitter must be bleeding DAUs Secondary indicators seems to indicate DAU is surging. I don't know why you'd think it would drop from controversy this kind of shit is what people live on twitter for. Real question is is it sustainable and can they actually monetize it. > The ads are also really weird and odd. Twitter has always been an embarrassment in terms of targeted ads.

542458 4y ago
What secondary indicators are you referring to? And yeah Twitter ad targeting has always been confusing to me. Some people here are saying it’s because they fired that team, but it’s been weird for years. The automatically determined interests listed in the settings were 85% completely irrelevant to me. At various points I’ve been given ads for restaurants on a different continent, HIV medication (I’m not HIV positive), and nuclear engineering consultants (not my industry at all).
ncallaway 4y ago
> Secondary indicators seems to indicate DAU is surging Which ones?
tremon 4y ago
Secondary indicators like the number of times Twitter is mentioned on HN, or in the news in general?
rminami 4y ago
> Twitter has always been an embarrassment in terms of targeted ads. I now seem to be getting lots of ads from Saudi Aramco, and I have no clue what part of my Twitter activity would indicate interest in them. Running out of ad inventory seems like the most plausible explanation.

querulous 4y ago

their entire ad backend is in a state of crisis. i have friends who were on the monetization (read: ads) teams at twitter and every single one of them has been asked/ordered to return to work if they want to collect their severance

dekhn 4y ago
I would like to hear more about this. I haven't seen any reputable news about employees who were severed and then asked to come back.
rightbyte 4y ago
Severance claw back? For real?
dmak 4y ago
Whoa, is this possible? is this even legal?
- meepmorp 4y ago
  By the time they get it in front of a judge, Twitter probably won't exist anymore.
- qqtt 4y ago
  When you hear about layoffs these days, you will usually see terms like "2 months of salary" as part of the severance package. What this actually is, is paying the employee throughout the entire "notice" period of the WARN Act. The WARN Act says that any company doing layoffs must give 60 days notice to employees, so to comply companies layoff employees but keep them on payroll for 2 months to meet the obligations of the law. Technically, if the employee is still on payroll, the company is within it's rights to ask them to continue working, and violating company policy during this time (ie, not even showing up for work) could be grounds for regular termination which would not require any severance payments at all.
  - AlexandrB 4y ago

joegahona 4y ago

> Twitter must be bleeding DAUs My thoughts exactly, he was in some random meeting last week and learned that traffic is falling and this is his dopey “solution.”

hackernewds 4y ago

Wait for the code freezes everywhere to be over. Can't imagine any new features at Twitter reasonably launched